That must be the longest album title ever! Anyway this seems to be going out of print so if you want a copy hurry up, as it won't be around forever. This is a re-issue on the Renascent label. The company bragged about the quality of their cardboard gatefold sleeves. Well, I can't say I rate them as they seem to be on the small side which makes extracting the disc perilous. I have put my CD in a plastic sleeve to avoid the danger of it becoming scratched. Maybe that's why this label no longer seems to be issuing CDs. Even a digipack would have been better than this rubbish packaging.
The album itself is excellent. It's by no means all their BBC session tracks, but it is the cream of them. Hard to find songs and classics such as "Eye Of The Lens", "Total War", "Independence Day" and "Waiting For A Miracle" are here in versions subtly different from the original Polydor recordings. There is a Rolling Stones cover in the shape of "Citadel" (originally on "Their Satanic Majesties Request"). There are 19 tracks on the CD, so it offers outstanding value as a mid-price release.
Musically, vocalist Steve Fellows does sound like fellow Sheffield man Phil Oakey, and the band sound a little like Korova bands Echo & The Bunnymen and (Lori &) The Chameleons. It's a fantastic mix of dry sardonic vocals and staggeringly subtle riffs over a solid rhythm section. The band were press darlings at the time but sadly this never translated into sales and popularity. I have some of their stuff on vinyl (and even mid-period Jive label albums like "Land" were great), and will be exploring their final albums "The Glamour" and "My Minds Eye" if I can afford to buy them before they become unavailable! The band played a handful of gigs a year or two back but are not really a unit at present. What a pity, as I would love to see them.
Don't forget the Comsats because they were and are a really special band.
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